13d 

#75 



Seven Steps 

to tbe Cross 



MEDITATIONS SUITABLE 
FOR COOD FRIDAY 






BRADLEY 




Class ___ 

Book JLji 



Copyright N°, 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT; 



Seven Steps to the Cross 



Being Seven Meditations suitable 

for Lent, and more particularly 

for Good Friday 



BY 

REV. ERNEST BRADLEY 

Rector of S. Paul's, San Rafael, Cal. 



NEW YORK 

THOMAS WHITTAKER 
2 and 3 Bible House 



&X&* 
&$ 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 

Two Copies Received 

JAN 25 190? 

/» Copyright Entry 
/ ^CLASS CC XXc, No. 
COPY B. 



Copyright, 1907, 
By Thomas Whittaker 



TO 

fll>$ Saintet) jfatber, 

Who, after twenty-Jive years of serv- 
ice for the Master, prayed that his 
son might serve in the same cause. 



flDefcitations 



I. The Last Suppee and the New Command 

MENT 



II. Gethsemane, The Call of the Cross 

III. Caiaphas, The rejection of Israel 

IV. Herod, The demand for a sign 
V. Pilate, A violation of conscience 

VI. Out by the Jaffa Gate 

VII. Golgotha, The place of a skull 
Appendix .... 



1 

11 
23 
33 

47 
59 
69 

85 



preface 

In presenting these meditations to my 
brethren in the ministry and to the laity 
at large, I do so in the humble hope that 
God may use them in the future as He 
has in the past. They were written and 
given amid the stress and work of a busy 
city parish, and then were repeated in the 
quiet suburban parish of S. Paul's, San 
Rafael, Cal. It pleased God to bless the 
effort put forth in both instances. In 
their preparation I acknowledge the usual 
books one would read to get into the 
spirit of the times of our Lord, such as 
Edersheim, Farrar, Geikie, Stalker, etc., 
but more particularly I beg to say that 
my endeavor has been to carry a deep 
spiritual message on the sufferings of our 
Lord to those who might hear or read 
them. 

Ernest Bradley 
San Bafael 



TELL ME THE OLD, OLD STORY 

Tell me the old, old story 

Of unseen things above, 
Of Jesus and His glory, 

Of Jesus and His love. 
Tell me the story simply, 

As to a little child, 
For I am weak and weary, 

And helpless and defiled. 
Tell me the old, old story 

Of Jesus and His love ! 

Tell me the story slowly, 

That I may take it in — 
That wonderful redemption, 

God's remedy for sin. 
Tell me the story often 

For I forget so soon ; 
The " early dew " of morning 

Has passed away at noon. 

Tell me the story softly 

With earnest tones and grave ; 
Remember I'm the sinner 

Whom Jesus died to save. 
Tell me the story always, 

If you would really be 
In any time of trouble 

A comforter to me. 

— Miss HanJcey. 



THE FIRST STEP 

Zhe xaet Supper ano tbe 
IRew Commandment 



A HYMN 

Jesu, the very thought of Thee 
With sweetness fills the breast ; 

But sweeter far Thy face to see, 
And in Thy presence rest. 

No voice can sing, no heart can frame, 

Nor can the memory find, 
A sweeter sound than Jesus' Name, 

The Saviour of mankind. 

O hope of every contrite heart, 

O joy of all the meek, 
To those who fall, how kind Thou art ! 

How good to those who seek ! 

But what to those who find ? Ah, this 

Nor tongue nor pen can show ; 
The love of Jesus, what it is 

None but His loved ones know. 

Jesu, our only joy be Thou, 

As Thou our prize wilt be ; 
In Thee be all our glory now, 

And through eternity. 
S. Bernard, translated by fiev. E. Caswall. 



A PRAYER 

Give grace, O Heavenly Father, to all bishops and other 
ministers, that they may, both by their life and doctrine, set 
forth Thy true and lively Word, and rightly and duly ad- 
minister Thy holy sacraments. And to all Thy people give 
Thy heavenly grace ; that with meek heart and due rever- 
ence, they may hear and receive Thy holy Word; truly 
serving Thee in holiness and righteousness all the days of 
their life. Grant this, O Father, for Jesus Christ's sake, 
our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen. 



Gbe Xast Supper anfc> tbe mew 
Comtnanfcment 

The first step to the cross may well be 
called a step of preparation. A prepara- 
tion not only for the Lord Jesus Himself, 
but for His immediate disciples, and for 
those who should be His disciples in the 
ages to come. It is what is commonly 
known as the Last Supper. The Lord 
had gathered His own about Him, as 
though He would gather strength and 
courage from human companionship. As 
the Son of God we know that it was His 
habit to commune with His Heavenly 
Father. He is frequently to be found 
alone, on the hillsides of His beloved 
Galilee, or in the desert, or high up on 
the Mount of Transfiguration, living in 
actual life the injunction He gave His 
own, regarding prayer. " When thou 
prayest, enter into thy closet, and when 
thou hast shut the door, pray to thy 



Seven Steps to the Cross 



Father which is in secret." The moun- 
tains and deserts and secluded spots were 
the only places the Lord could call His 
own. " The foxes have holes, and the 
birds of the air have nests ; but the Son 
of Man hath not where to lay His head." 
Nowhere to lay His head as the Son of 
Man, but as the Son of God He found a 
frequent resting and communing place in 
the presence of His Father. As the Son 
of Man He seems to have felt the range 
of loneliness common to all men. He 
pined for the companionship of His own. 
Thus we find Him as He nears the end 
calling His own about Him in an upper 
room in Jerusalem. They were all there. 
Twelve of them. Thirteen with the Mas- 
ter, but by and by the son of perdition 
was to leave them, and so there were to 
be twelve loving and faithful hearts beat- 
ing as one. 

The supper being ended with its awful 
yet blessed symbol of the Eucharistic Sac- 
rifice — the bread having been eaten as a 
symbol of His body, and the wine having 



The Last Supper 



been drunk as a symbol of His blood — 
the Lord takes a bowl of water and washes 
the feet of His disciples, to show them 
that the servant is not greater than his 
master ; to show them that they should 
love one another ; to show them that 
whoever would be true leaders in the 
Church of the future, must be servus 
servorum — the servant of the servants. 

But even while the Lord is doing this, 
there seems to be something wrong. 
Some spirit pervades the assembly that is 
not in accord with the thought and heart 
of the Saviour. Around the table of the 
Last Supper, while the Master is washing 
the disciples' feet, there is discord. The 
Master seems to be the only one who can 
locate it, but it is there, and it cuts Him 
to the heart. One "that eateth bread 
with Me hath lifted up his heel against 
Me." That one was Judas Iscariot. 
Christ tells them that one shall betray 
Him, and Judas realizing that the sacred 
precincts of that room is no place for him, 
gets up to leave. As he goes out the Lord 



Seven Steps to the Cross 



looks at him and, with a heavy heart, 
says : " What thou doest, do quickly." 
Only two of the disciples, John and Peter, 
knew what the Lord meant — excepting 
Judas. He knew and went out into the 
outer darkness — physical and spiritual, to 
perpetrate the nefarious deed of betraying 
the Son of God. 

The passing of Judas was a distinct re- 
lief to the Lord Jesus. Humanly speak- 
ing He might have wondered what course 
this sullen man with the bag would take, 
but his going out, though it spelled the 
doom of the Saviour, was the passing of 
discord from the first Eucharist of the 
Christian Church. Christ was now with 
His own. He felt the relief and said : 
" Now is the Son of Man glorified, and 
God is glorified in Him." Christ had no 
doubt yearned for the salvation of this 
man. He had placed in his path the ob- 
stacle of eternal love, but it was pushed 
aside. Now he had gone, there was a 
sense of relief, even though doom was 
ahead. The Lord could drink in the 



The Last Supper 



richness of communion with His own, 
and thereby prepare both Himself and 
them for the trying ordeal of the next 
few days. 

And what a preparation it was. " A 
new commandment I give unto you, that 
ye love one another ; as I have loved you. 
. . . By this shall all men know that 
ye are My disciples. " He also tells them 
that He is going away. But " let not your 
heart be troubled : ye believe in God, be- 
lieve also in Me." " I am going to My 
Father's House, and in My Father's House 
are many mansions." " I go to prepare 
a place for you . . . that where I 
am there ye may be also." " Be of good 
cheer. On this earth tribulation will be 
your lot, but the new commandment I 
give you will sustain you." " Love one 
another as I have loved you." The new 
commandment seemed to be an echo 1 of 
the old law. The spirit of the decalogue 
said : " Thou shalt love the lord thy God 
with all thy heart . . . and thy 

' Dr. A. G. Mortimer. 



8 Seven Steps to the Gross 

neighbor as thyself." But here we must 
notice that Christ advances a step further. 
" The law was given by Moses, but grace 
and truth came by Jesus Christ." Moses 
indeed placed love under the category of 
the Law, Christ placed it under the cate- 
gory of Grace. The Law of love was as- 
sociated with Sinai ; the Grace of love 
was associated with calvary. " Love one 
another, ' not as you love yourselves/ but 
as I have loved you." The model that 
Christ gives to us is not self-love, but His 
love. 

"O Love Divine, that stooped to share 
Our sharpest pang, our bitterest tear ! 
On Thee we cast each earthborn care, 
We smile at pain when Thou art near." 

The love which Jesus manifested in 
going to the cross, makes the cross a sym- 
bol of life. We all have our crosses, and 
I know of no better preparation for your 
cross and mine, than the precept and ex- 
ample the Lord Jesus has given to us. 
How natural it is when we are in trouble 



The Last Supper 9 

to seek our own. To gather ourselves, as 
it were, in the bosom of our families. To 
pour out our heart's grief to those we love, 
and to those who understand us. To 
gather together in God's Church, and get 
the touch of the Spirit that comes in a 
beautiful service, or to receive refreshment 
for the soul in partaking of the Body and 
the Blood of our Lord. How we are 
lifted above the sordidness of earth, even 
to the very bosom of God, even to the 
fountain head of Christ-love. You have 
heard the story about S. Augustine. 1 
How one evening he was walking by the 
seashore, overcome with grief and sadness. 
As the murmuring waves broke at his 
feet, and the shadows of the declining day 
seemed to darken his soul, he cried : " Oh ! 
why is my soul so sad. Tell me ye waves 
with your ceaseless murmur, why is my 
soul so sad ? " The answer came : Qusere 
super nos" (Seek above us.) Meanwhile 
the shadows deepened, the darkness came 
on, and the firmament was blinking with 

1 Padre Agostino. 



10 Seven Steps to the Cross 

stars. S. Augustine lifted up his eyes 
and said : " Tell me, ye constellations of 
the heavens, why my soul is so sad ? " 
And from out of the illimitable spaces of 
God the answer came as before. " Qusere 
super nos^ S. Augustine took yet another 
flight until he was among the angelic 
hosts, and there he repeated his question : 
" Oh! angels of heaven, do you know why 
my soul is so sad ? " In harmonious con- 
cert their reply came also : " Quxre super 
nos" At last he stood in the presence of 
God, at the fountain head of Christ-love, 
and here his grief was turned into joy, 
and his sadness passed as the mist of the 
morning. Thus it will be with us all if 
we seek God and accept the new com- 
mandment of our Lord. " A new com- 
mandment I give unto you, that ye love 
one another ... as I have loved 
you," 



THE SECOND STEP 

(Betbaemane— £be Call of tbe Cross 

"Arise, let us go hence/ ' 



A HYMN 

In the hour of trial, 

Jesu, plead for me ; 
Lest by base denial 

I depart from Thee ; 
When Thou see'st me waver, 

With a look recall. 
Nor for fear or favor 

Suffer me to fall. 

With forbidden pleasures 

Would this vain world charm ; 
Or its sordid treasures 

Spread to work me harm ; 
Bring to my remembrance 

Sad Gethsemane, 
Or, in darker semblance, 

Cross-crowned Calvary. 

Should Thy mercy send me 

Sorrow, toil, and woe ; 
Or should pain attend me 

On my path below ; 
Grant that I may never 

Fail Thy hand to see ; 
Grant that I may ever 

Cast my care on Thee. 

When my last hour cometh, 

Fraught with strife and pain, 
When my dust returneth 

To the dust again ; 
On thy truth relying, 

Through that mortal strife, 
Jesu, take me, dying, 

To eternal life. 

— J. Montgomery. 

A PRAYER 

Almighty and everlasting God, who, of Thy tender love 
towards mankind, hast sent Thy Son, our Saviour, Jesus 
Christ, to take upon Him our flesh, and to suffer death upon 
the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of His 
great humility ; mercifully grant, that we may both follow 
the example of His patience, and also be made partakers of 
His resurrection j through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen, 



(Setbsemane— £be Call of tbe Cross 

" Arise, let us go hence." These words, 
the words of the Master, are the call of 
the cross via the Garden of Gethsemane. 
There was a note of confidence and 
triumph in His closing words at the table 
of the Last Supper. Now all is over, and 
there possibly comes to His mind the 
words He had spoken to Judas : " What 
thou doest, do quickly." " What thou 
doest, do quickly," " for I am impatient. . 
I have met the God of this world and 
conquered, I have met the tempter and 
triumphed. Now if it must be, I am 
ready to be offered up. I am ready to 
meet the arch foe of mortal life — death 
and the grave." " What thou doest, do 
quickly." So as we have said, with such 
thoughts possibly in His mind again, the 
Lord leaves the table, sajang, " Arise, let 
us go hence." 

From the upper room of the Last Sup« 



14 Seven Steps to the Cross 

per, the upper room of the First Com- 
munion of the Church, our Lord wends 
His way through the busy streets of Jeru- 
salem, the festive city, to the gate north 
of the Temple. During the nights of the 
Passover season the gates were left open 
as an accommodation to travelers. Hith- 
erto the evening had found Him journey- 
ing to Bethany, the home of Martha and 
Mary and their brother Lazarus. After 
the days of teaching in the city, the press 
of the throng, the clash of public opinion 
regarding His mission, the Lord seems to 
have longed for the quiet of that typical 
home in Israel — the home at Bethany. 
However, to-night it is different. He 
longs for home and companionship, but 
it is not His to have. The day is far 
spent, the Paschal moon sheds its silver 
beams over Olivet as if in gracious 
benediction, and the fitful lights on the 
towers of the Temple cast a lurid glow 
over the apostate city. To-night the Sa- 
viour turns not to Bethany, but into the 
dark and forbidding valley of the Ke- 



Gethsemane 15 

dron " swollen and angry with the winter 
rains." 

Descending into the gloom and shad- 
ows caused by the towering walls and 
fortresses of the city, the Son of Man 
seeks the seclusion of " an old trysting 
place/' where, not only the twelve dis- 
ciples, but many others had been wont to f 
meet Him. We are led to believe that | 
eleven of His immediate followers are \ 
with Him. The missing disciple is about 
the nefarious business of selling his Mas- 
ter for thirty pieces of silver. With the 
faithful eleven, the Lord enters a garden 
— the garden of Gethsemane — sacred to^ 
us all as the place where the Saviour of 
the world conquered in the supreme crisis 
of His life. 

Taking with Him Peter, James, and I 
John He leaves the rest of the disciples 
and enters an inner recess of the garden. 
Here leaving the three He says, " My 
soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto 
death : tarry ye here and watch." It 
was the most awful death watch in the 



16 Seven Steps to the Cross 

) annals of the race. The most solemn 
moments of life are those which we spend 
in watching our loved ones as they draw 
near the borderland of the other world. 
But imagine, if you can, what terror and 
consternation it would add to our sorrow, 
if those whom we love were called upon 
by the State to pay the penalty of a sup- 
posed crime. The death watch of such 
an one would be the most trying that 
friends and victim could be called upon 
to suffer. In this awful predicament we 
find the Son of Man, whose worst crimes 
were the healing of the sick, the bring- 
ing back from death of a dead friend, 
and His filial attitude towards God. Well 
might He say to His disciples as He en- 
tered the gloomy recess of Gethsemane, 
" My soul is exceedingly sorrowful unto 
death." Truly it was the most awful 
death watch in the annals of the race. 
The most crucial period of His life. One 
of " God's moments in history." The 
crisis of the world. Angels waited with 
bated breath, devils feared and trembled, 



Gethsemane 17 



only men were indifferent. The shadows 
deepened apace, the noise of the city was 
stilled in slumber, even the watching 
disciples were overcome as the Son of 
Man made His last stand in the moral 
conquest of the world. 

Over against Him, still further to the 
north was a hill. Not Olivet, with its 
glorious vision and peaceful reminis- 
cences, but Golgotha — the place of a skull. 
He saw on it three crosses, and one was 
for Himself. As the vision of that cross 
was stamped upon Him, the sufferings 
of His soul became intense. When He 
left His home in Nazareth He had broken 
with the past. As He emerged from the 
wilderness of the temptation He was con- 
scious of a supreme victory over the glory 
of the world. Now He knew that His 
hour had come. It was the call of the 



cross for the Son of God. Was there no 
other way ? Might He not offer some 
other example? Could not the selfish 
ness of human hearts be conquered by 
some other principle than sacrifice ? His 



o 

: 



18 Seven Steps to the Gross 

heart was breaking. " He was exceed- 
ingly sorrowful/ 7 " Sore amazed," " Very 
heavy." He felt that His life strings 
were snapping under the awful strain. 
Whichever way He looked, there was 
the cross. He sought it not for Himself. 
He would have chosen another way if it 
had been possible. But sin had done its 
awful work. The Lord was surrounded 
by His enemies. The Saviour of the 
world was at bay. Every avenue of pos- 
sible escape was blocked by the vision of 
Golgotha and its cruel cross. 

Falling to the ground He sweat, as it 
were, great drops of blood, and cried : " O 
My Father, if it be possible, let this cup 
pass from Me : nevertheless not as I will, 
but as Thou wilt." Overwhelmed with 
loneliness He sought His disciples, and 
found them asleep. Rousing them, He 
said, " Could ye not watch with Me one 
hour?" Again He went and prayed, 
" O My Father, if this cup may not pass 
away from Me, except I drink it, Thy 
will be done." Thrice the prayer was 



Gethsemane 19 

offered, and thrice the Lord sought hu- 
man consolation. However, human con- 
solation failed. Failed not only through 
sheer wickedness, as in His enemies, but 
now through sheer weakness as in His 
disciples. God alone was left. Yet dur- 
ing the darkest moments not even God, 
for the Son of Man was called upon to 
tread the wine-press alone. And alone 
did He tread and conquer. He became 
the Captain of our salvation through suf- 
ferings, and as the consciousness of vic- 
tory dawned in His soul, angels came and 
ministered unto Him. The Lord then 
turned from the Garden of Gethsemane 
with its struggle and victory, and with 
the shadow of the cross upon Him, He 
called to His disciples, and said : " Rise, 
let us be going." 

We are living in times when the fol- 
lowing of the Son of Man is achieved un- 
der different circumstances than those 
just related. Nominally speaking, civili- 
zation is Christian. Christian kings grace 
the thrones of empires ; Christian men 



20 Seven Steps to the Cross 

fill the halls of Congresses ; and moral 
motives have some influence in the life 
of the world. But nominal Christianity 
and moral motives, though infinitely bet- 
ter than nominal heathenism and stoical 
| pretensions, are not the highest achieve- 
I ments to which the world is called. In 
| the advance of the Christian faith over 
the face of the earth, the cross has been 
in the vanguard of progress as the stand- 
ard of victory, and flushed by our suc- 
cesses we have been in danger of forget- 
f ting that the call of the cross is, primarily, 
I a call to sacrifice and consecration. The 
* first processional of the Faith was not the 
Vexilla Regis of a triumphant Church : 

"The royal banners forward go, 
The cross shines forth in mystic glow,." 

but it was the jeering of a bloodthirsty 
rabble, crying for the death of the Son of 
God, who fainted beneath the weight of 
His cross. " Arise and let us go hence " 
meant Gethsemane and the betrayal ; 
Caiaphas and denial ; Herod and scorn ; 



Gethsemane 21 

Pilate and scourging ; Golgotha and its 
cross. 

If the Church had a deeper conscious- 
ness of all this to-day, would it not be 
better for us ? Would it not mean some- 
thing to be a Christian ? Would it not 
cost something? And because it did 
mean something, and did cost something, 
would not Christianity be a deeper and 
richer thing in our lives? What if it 
should mean a Gethsemane with its 
watching, and praying, and sweating of 
blood, and betrayal ? What if it should 
mean the cutting off of a right hand, or 
the plucking out of an eye ? Is it not 
better to go through life maimed, than to 
be maimed in eternity ? " Arise and let 
us go hence ! " Let us present ourselves 
to God as a living sacrifice. He wants us 
now. Here on this earth. " Arise and 
let us go hence ! " Strengthened by the 
Bread of Heaven, and the noble decision 
of noble hearts, let us also turn aside into 
our Gethsemane, if needs be, and pray 
awhile. And if it should prove not only 



22 Seven Steps to the Cross 

a trysting place of prayer and fellowship, 
but a struggle of sweat and blood, let us 
be brave under that also, and know as it 
was with the Saviour, so it will be with 
us, when we have conquered, angels will 
come and minister unto us. 



THE THIRD STEP 

Caiapbas 
Gbe Rejection of flsrael 



A HYMN 

Jesus, and shall it ever be, 
A mortal man ashamed of Thee ? 
Ashamed of Thee, whom angels praise, 
Whose glories shine through endless days? 

Ashamed of Jesus ! sooner far 
Let night disown each radiant star ; 
'Tis midnight with my soul, till He, 
Bright Morning Star, bid darkness flee. 

Ashamed of Jesus ! oh, as soon 
Let morning blush to own the sun ! 
He shed the beams of light divine 
O'er this benighted soul of mine. 

Ashamed of Jesus ! that dear friend 
On whom my hopes of heaven depend ! 
No ; when I blush, be this my shame, 
That I no more revere His Name. 

Ashamed of Jesus ! empty pride ! 
I'll boast a Saviour crucified ; 
And oh, may this my portion be, 
My Saviour not ashamed of me. 

— Rev. Joseph Grigg. 

A PRAYER 

Almighty God, who art the giver of all good things, grant 
that we, who have taken upon ourselves the sacred name of 
Jesus, may be faithful unto death, and at last be received 
into Thy Eternal Kingdom ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 



Caiapbae— £be IRejection of IFerael 

Immediately after the events of the 
last meditation, while the Lord was say- 
ing, " Rise, let us be going/' Judas, the 
betrayer, appeared and our Lord was 
arrested and taken into Jerusalem to the 
house of Annas, the father-in-law of the 
High Priest. Annas was probably the 
most powerful Jew in the city. He had 
been High Priest himself for several 
years, and then controlled the succession 
through his sons. His wealth was fab- 
ulous, and on more than one occasion he 
was supposed to have bought the good 
will of the Roman authorities. He it 
was, no doubt, who controlled the ne- 
farious traffic in the courts of the temple, 
and which on one occasion Jesus had 
condemned and driven away. Annas 
was the head of a gigantic trust that 
fattened itself on widows and orphans, 
and which made his name a hissing by- 



26 Seven Steps to the Cross 

word among the common people. It 
was meet, therefore, that he should see 
the young Galilean reformer for himself. 
Having been satisfied that Jesus was 
really under arrest, Annas ordered the 
guards to take their prisoner to the court 
of Caiaphas the High Priest. The great 
Jewish Council, the Sanhedrin, had been 
hastily summoned, and came prepared to 
act against the prisoner, regardless of 
whatever testimony might be offered. 

Here at last we find the Son of Man, 
bound and standing in the midst of the 
semicircle of the court of the Sanhedrin. 
" It was an axiom of this great body to 
save life and not destroy it." Any man 
coming before its court might be assured 
of fair play. Even an advocate was ap- 
pointed, whose duty it was to work for 
aquittal. But no such mercy was meeted 
out to Jesus Christ. Josephus tells us 
that in the latter days of Jerusalem 
" fictitious tribunals were set up, when it 
was desirous to secure the death of an 
opponent." This was one of them. 



/ 



Caiaphas 27 



Caiaphas had his arch enemy face to 
face. For three years he had sent out 
spies and accomplices to trap him, and 
every attempt seemed to have been 
thwarted, until Judas betrayed his 
Master. Now the Nazarene was at his 
mercy. A form of trial was necessary,' 
but with craft and guile Caiaphas man- 
aged things to suit his own ends. Sad- 
ducee and Pharisee were united in con- 
demning Jesus as a common enemy. To 
allow Him to continue healing the sick, 
and bringing the dead back to life, and 
proclaiming against their unholy temple 
traffic was only to hasten their own end, 
and bring thewhole ecclesiastical structure 
of Judaism tumbling about their ears. At 
last He was in their grasp, and they would 
see to it that there was no escape. Wit- 
ness after witness was produced against 
Him, but all failed to definitely convict 
Him. They contradicted themselves and 
only proclaimed the innocence of the 
Lord. 

So far during the trial Christ had 



28 Seven Steps to the Gross 

\ answered never a word, except to defend 
His followers by saying there was noth- 
ing secret about the movement of which 
He was the Head. They knew all, for 
He had taught publicly in the temple. 
Three years before, immediately after His 
baptism at the ford of the Jordan, He 
had come to Jerusalem, and while He 
did not proclaim Himself, yet His teach- 
ings and miracles were of such a nature 
as to challenge the rulers of the Jews to 
consider His claims. Those claims had 
been considered and rejected. With a 
heavy heart the Son of Man had turned 
to the north, and in His own beloved 
Galilee the common people heard Him 
gladly, and believed Him to be the 
Messiah. 

Now He stood on trial for His life be- 
fore official Judaism. The Messiah of 
Israel, for whom the nation had been 
looking and longing for centuries, stood 
before them only to be repudiated. The 
Son of God, who had been promised be- 
fore the foundations of the world were 



Caiaphas 29 



laid, was in the midst of them, and they 
were going to hang Him on a tree. He 
stood there as a lamb led to the slaughter. \ 
He did speak once in defense of His dis-f 
ciples, for which He was brutally struckf 
in the mouth. And so He held His 
peace. 

Finally the terrible farce of justice was 
getting past all bearing. The mob was 
restless without, and the day was break- 
ing. Then it was that Caiaphas brought 
the matter to an end by turning to Jesus 
and saying : " I adjure Thee by the liv- 
ing God " — " in the name of God I put 
you on your oath " — " that Thou tell us 
whether Thou be the Christ the Son of 
God ? " The answer of Jesus was " I am." 

It was an answer which sent a thrill of 
excitement throughout the court-room, 
and no doubt brought the members of 
the Sanhedrin to their feet. Then fol- 
lowed the official rejection of Israel. 
Caiaphas appeared to be so moved by 
what he considered the most outspoken 
blasphemy, that he tore the priestly robe 



30 Seven Steps to the Cross 

of fine linen " as if it were too narrow to 
let him breathe " under such circum- 
stances. The condemnation of the Lord 
was complete in the eyes of official 
Judaism. " He was despised, and re- 
jected of men ; a man of sorrows, and ac- 
quainted with grief." " And the whole 
multitude of them arose, and led Him to 
Pilate." 

While this fiasco of justice was going 
on, another event was taking place in the 
court yard. Poor Peter had been follow- 
ing afar off. He had offered to fight for 
his Master in Gethsemane, and indeed 
did begin to use the sword. Christ had 
rebuked him, and so Peter fled with the 
rest of the disciples. But Peter could not 
stay away from his Master. It seemed as 
though some fatality led him on to his 
denial of the Lord. He entered the court- 
yard of the palace of Caiaphas and was 
recognized by a woman doorkeeper. 
Peter denied the recognition. Shortly 
afterwards, while he was warming him- 
self at a fire — for the night was cold, 



Caiaphas 31 



and Peter was cold too, cold not only in 
body, but cold in his heart towards his 
Master — while thus warming himself, 
he was again recognized, and again 
as stoutly denied. Once more he was 
tested. The trial was nearly over when 
a man standing near said : "Of a 
truth this fellow also was with him ; for 
he is a Galilean, his speech betrayeth 
him. 7 ' Peter's very eloquence had got 
him into the most serious trouble of his 
life. Again he denied his Master, and 
this time with oaths. Then the cock 
crew, for the morning was beginning to 
break, and Peter realizing what he had 
done, looked up towards the Lord, who 
also turned and looked at Peter. That 
look broke Peter's heart. He remem- 
bered all. It was hard for Jesus to be re- 
jected of Israel, it was infinitely worse to 
be rejected by the man who was His close 
friend, and most ardent disciple. " And 
Peter went out and wept bitterly.' ' 



THE FOURTH STEP 

Hereto 
£be Demand for a Sign 



A HYMN 

O Jesu, Thou art standing 

Outside the fast-closed door, 
In lowly patience waiting 

To pass the threshold o'er : 
Shame on us, Christian brothers, 

His Name and sign who bear : 
Oh, shame, thrice shame upon us, 

To keep Him standing there ! 

O Jesu, Thou art knocking : 

And lo ! that hand is scarred, 
And thorns Thy brow encircle, 

And tears Thy face have marred : 
O love that passeth knowledge, 

So patiently to wait ! 
O sin that hath no equal, 

So fast to bar the gate ! 

O Jesu, Thou art pleading 

In accents meek and low, 
11 1 died for you, My children, 

And will ye treat Me so? " 
O Lord, with shame and sorrow 

We open now the door : 
Dear Saviour, enter, enter, 

And leave us nevermore. 

— Bishop How. 

A PEAYER 
O Lord, who for our sake didst fast forty days and forty 
nights ; give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh 
being subdued to the Spirit, we may ever obey Thy godly 
motions in righteousness, and true holiness, to Thy honor 
and glory, who livest and reignest with the Father and the 
Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen. 



Hereto— Gbe Demanb for a ©ion 

From the official rejection of Israel, 
the Lord Jesus was led to Pontius Pilate, 
the Roman governor of Jerusalem. The 
Roman law forbade the Jews, as a con- 
quered people, to pass sentence of death, 
and so, knowing the liberty of Rome on 
religious matters, it was necessary for the 
Sanhedrin to devise some charge upon 
which the death of the Lord might be 
assured. It was about seven o'clock in 
the morning, and Pilate seemed in no 
mood to gratify the whims of a people 
he absolutely despised. However, it was 
his duty to dispense justice. He had 
heard of Jesus of Nazareth from several 
different sources. He knew how the 
priests felt towards Him. He had heard 
that the common people believed Him to 
be a great prophet. Worse than all, his 
wife had had a strange dream, and had 



36 Seven Steps to the Cross 

begged him that very morning to have 
nothing to do with Jesus. 

Accordingly when our Lord stood be- 
fore Pilate, the feeling of the governor 
alternated between pity and scorn. Pity 
for the Lord, scorn for the Jews. Turn- 
ing to the accusers, Pilate asked for a 
direct charge. This rather baffled them, 
for they had supposed that since Pilate 
had permitted a Roman guard to arrest 
the Lord, His condemnation was only a 
matter of form. So instead of preferring 
a direct charge they said, " If He were 
not a malefactor we should not have 
delivered Him unto thee." Whereupon 
Pilate answered, " Take Him yourselves 
and judge Him according to your law." 
The Jews answered, " It is not lawful for 
us to put any man to death." And so 
Pilate was compelled to proceed. 

Entering into the palace the governor 
called the Lord before him. As he looked 
upon the prisoner his sarcasm was veiled 
with pity and well it might be, for at 
first glance the King of kings looked 



Herod 37 

anything but kingly at that moment. 
He was worn out with the watch and 
blood-sweat of Gethsemane. His wrists 
were smarting under the thongs which 
bound them, His clothes were disordered, 
His hair was disheveled, and His face 
was bruised and swollen from the cruel 
blow He had received in the court of 
Caiaphas. There stood the Son of Man 
" bruised for our iniquities, with the 
chastisement of our peace upon Him." 
Well might Pilate be moved with pity. 
Turning upon Him, the governor said, 
"Art Thou the king of the Jews?" 
" Thou with Thy tattered garments, and 
disheveled hair, and bruised face, and 
bound hands," " art Thou the king of the 
Jews?" Jesus answered, " Sayest thou 
this thing of thyself, or did others tell 
it thee of Me ? " Pilate immediately dis- 
owned any personal inquiry. He was 
not a Jew. " Thine own nation, and the 
chief priests have delivered Thee unto 
me: what hast Thou done?" Then fol- 
lows that wonderful and mystic colloquy 



38 Seven Steps to the Cross 

about the Kingdom of Truth, which held 
for a time the heart of Pilate, and caused 
him to determine upon the Lord's re- 
lease. The man before him was no crim- 
inal. The Jews — these same despised 
Jews with their " straining at gnats and 
swallowing camels" had delivered Him 
up for very envy. He would release 
Him, and to this intent the governor 
appears before the people. 

No sooner, however, did Pilate men- 
tion his intentions, than there arose such 
a storm of human passion that for a mo- 
ment he was surprised, and at a loss what 
to do. " We found this fellow pervert- 
ing the nation, and forbidding to give 
tribute to Csesar, saying that He Himself 
is Christ a king." " He stirreth up the 
people teaching throughout all Jewry, 
beginning from Galilee unto this place." 

Definite charges now came in quick 
succession, and Pilate turning to Jesus 
said, " You hear the charges against you, 
what have you to say ? " But He an- 
swered never a word. The silence of 



Herod 39 

Christ was more distracting to the gov- 
ernor than the imprecations of the mob, 
and made him more than ever determined 
to defer judgment. The wild clamor of 
the mob raised a new hope in the mind 
of Pilate. The man was a Galilean. 
Herod Antipas the Tetrarch of Galilee 
was in Jerusalem. He would send Him 
to Herod, and thereby an old quarrel 
might be healed, and a distasteful judg- 
ment passed on to another. 

So Jesus is led away to the palace of 
Herod. It was the same Herod before 
whom John the Baptist had stood and 
fearlessly denounced. The same Herod 
who at the instigation of his mistress had 
beheaded John. The same Herod whom 
Christ had called " the fox." Herod the 
descendant of the cruel and heartless As- 
moneans of slaughtered innocents fame. 
Herod the adulterer, the murderer, the 
human fox. He had long wished to in- 
terview the Lord. He had heard of His 
miracles, for was not Galilee resounding 
with His praises. Now he would see not 



40 Seven Steps to the Cross 

only the Man, but he would have Him 
perform miracles for the amusement of 
himself and court. He would demand 
of Him a sign. So the crafty Tetrarch 
questioned the Lord with many words. 
But He answered nothing. The Christ 
was silent. His heart had gone out after 
Pilate, the Godless Roman, but for this 
man — the incarnation of hypocrisy, the 
traducer of national ideals — He had never 
a word. He stood before Herod in silent 
submission, and yet withal master of the 
situation. 

The attitude of Christ in regard to this 
demand for a sign was true to the tenor 
of His mission. Repeatedly a sign had 
been demanded of Him, but the Lord 
never satisfied the idle curiosity of unbe- 
lievers. By the very necessity of the case 
He would not do mighty works amongst 
those who were opposed to Him. His 
miracles were never " the creation of the 
abnormal, but the restoration of the nor- 
mal. Christ is not recorded in the gos- 
pels as giving a man a third eye, or an 



Herod 41 

additional hand, or as making clay birds 
fly, or animals talk. He does not over- 
turn the order of the world as a demon- 
stration of His power. But when some 
abnormal thing is presented to Him un- 
der circumstances that excite His sym- 
pathy, power goes forth from Him for the 
meeting of the need." x " The blind receive 
their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers 
are cleansed, and the deaf hear." The 
Lord Jesus healed because He was Life. 
He was the embodiment — the incarnation 
of life itself — He was begotten, not made. 
He was the Life of the world, the Life of 
the universe. To transpose the words of 
S. John w r e might say, " In the beginning 
was the Life, and the Life was with God, 
and the Life was God." When the poor, 
little, insignificant lives of His earthly 
day and generation came into contact 
with Him — the Life of the universe — and 
trusted Him, and believed Him, His vir- 
tue and strength flowed into their lives. 

1 J. Howard B. Masterman, M. A. 



42 Seven Steps to the Cross 

It was as natural for Him to heal the 
body as the soul, as natural as it was for 
the noonday sun, His sun, to give warmth 
to the earth. 

In a limited sense we know that this 
power is ours also, since as sons and 
daughters of God, the Life of God is ours. 
Do we not know people, who when they 
enter the sick room bring a breath of 
health with them. Do we not know of 
clergymen, and physicians, and nurses, 
and friends who as soon as they step over 
the threshold bring the tonic of health in 
their very bearing. A neat suit, a smiling 
face, a cheerful word manifest them as 
people who believe in life, and who live 
themselves. So it must have been with 
our Lord, only in an infinite degree. It 
could not have been otherwise. He was 
Master of life, and was soon to show the 
world that He was Master of death. 

But the Lord Jesus never performed 
miracles to satisfy the vulgar crowd, or 
the inquisitive demand. How foolish of 
Herod to ask Him. How little Herod 



Herod 43 

understood his Galilean subject who stood 
before him. The Lord had settled the 
demands of Herod some three years be- 
fore. As S. Mark tells us, " He was in 
the wilderness forty days, tempted of 
Satan/' and one of the temptations was 
the demand for a sign. Satan having 
been baffled in his first effort, comes 
again, and asks the Lord to test the 
wonderful power which He had. " Go," 
said the tempter, " to the pinnacle of the 
temple, and throw yourself down into the 
courts below. Then indeed all will ac- 
claim you as the Son of God, as the Mes^ 
siah of Israel. To make stones into bread 
is something that would benefit you alone, 
while to throw yourself from the pinnacle 
of the temple would be an act thousands 
would witness. Here is your chance. 
Here your opportunity. Do you hesitate ? 
Are you afraid? Remember the words 
of Holy Scripture, l He shall give His 
angels charge concerning Thee, and in 
their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest 
at any time Thou dash Thy foot against 



44 Seven Steps to the Cross 

a stone.' To whom can this apply better 
than to thyself ?" 

Not so, however, did the Lord test His 
power. Not so did He satisfy the vulgar 
demand for a sign. To the tempter, to 
the people, to Herod the Son of Man had 
no sign to offer, except, and that was the 
greatest sign the world ever saw, the 
greatest tragedy humanity ever wit- 
nessed — " except the sign of the prophet 
Jonas " — the sign of His death and res- 
urrection. Satan saw that sign and 
trembled, men saw it and fled in terror, 
Herod saw it, Pilate saw it, and when the 
sign was given the judgment seat was 
reversed. " Hereafter ye shall see the 
Son of Man sitting on the right hand of 
power." The silence of Jesus as He stood 
before Herod was ominous. It smote the 
crafty Tetrarch with fear, and seemed to 
say, " An adulterous generation seeketh 
after a sign ; and there shall no sign be 
given to it, but the sign of the prophet 
Jonas." "And when that sign is ac- 
complished ye shall see" "the Lord Jesus 



Herod 45 

revealed from heaven with His mighty 
angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance 
on them that know not God, and obey 
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." 



THE FIFTH STEP 

Pilate 

a Violation of Conscience 



A HYMN 

O sacred Head surrounded 
By crown of piercing thorn ! 

bleeding Head, so wounded, 
Reviled and put to scorn ! 

Death's pallid hue comes o'er Thee, 

The glow of life decays, 
Yet angel-hosts adore Thee, 

And tremble as they gaze. 

1 see Thy strength and vigor, 

All fading in the strife, 
And death with cruel rigor, 

BereaviDg Thee of life ; 
O agony and dying ! 

O love to sinners free ! 
Jesu, all grace supplying, 

Oh, turn Thy face on me. 

In this, Thy bitter Passion, 

Good Shepherd, think of me 
With Thy most sweet compassion, 

Unworthy though I be : 
Beneath Thy cross abiding 

Forever would I rest, 
In Thy dear love confiding, 

And with Thy presence blest. 

Be near when I am dying ; 

Oh, show Thy cross to me : 
And to my succor flying, 

Come, Lord, and set me free. 
These eyes, new faith receiving, 

From Jesus shall not move ; 
For he, who dies believing, 

Dies safely through Thy love. 
— S. Bernard. Tr. by Sir Henry W. Baker. 

A PRAYER 

O Lord God, whose Son suffered under Pontius Pilate, 
grant that we may u not be ashamed to confess the faith of 
Christ crucified, but manfully to fight under His banner, 
against sin, the world, and the devil, and to continue 
Christ's faithful soldiers and servants until life's end." 
Amen. 



pilate — a IDiolation of Conscience 

When the Lord Jesus refused to give 
Herod a sign, He was handed over to the 
sport of the soldiers. They dragged Him 
to their quarters, they improvised a 
throne, they dressed the Saviour in mock 
robes of royalty, they pierced His already 
throbbing brow with a crown of thorns, 
they put a reed in His hand, and then, 
crowding about Him, they jeered and 
laughed at Him. It is an awful picture 
that S. Luke here presents to us. The pic- 
ture of a king allowing his subject — an in- 
nocent person — whom he shrunk from 
condemning, to be the sport and jest of 
brutal soldiers. Herod's conduct is be- 
yond the words of human censure. We 
leave him with the Lord whom he in- 
sulted and degraded. 

Since Herod would not condemn, it 
was necessary that Jesus be taken before 
Pilate again. This much may be said of 



50 Seven Steps to the Cross 

the Roman governor, that his conscience 
seemed to be of a finer quality than that 
of the Tetrarch of Galilee. It is a pity 
he did not have the moral stamina to 
obey it. We rather expect it of Pilate 
who had been trained in a " school of juris- 
prudence noted for its official sense of 
justice." From the very first, when the 
Lord had stood before him, the governor 
had found himself face to face w 7 ith the 
most serious ethical problem of his whole 
career. He was called upon to condemn 
a man whom his instinctive sense of 
justice said was innocent. The Lord 
read the difficulty in his face. He 
searched the soul of Pilate with that 
gaze which was irresistible. He spoke 
to him regarding a kingdom of truth. 
Pilate was attracted. He understood 
what the Lord meant, though he seemed 
incapable of responding. Goaded on by 
a rebellious people, sick at heart, baffled 
by his convictions Pilate had asked 
Jesus with " a bitter and half sarcastic 
sigh," " What is truth?" It has been 



Pilate 51 

said, 1 that the question was beyond a 
jest, or ridicule, or even information. 
" Sarcasm there was perhaps, but it was 
that mournful, bitter sarcasm which hides 
inward unrest in sneering words ; that 
sad irony, whose very laugh rings of in- 
ward wretchedness.' ' So Pilate had sought 
to release his prisoner, but the people de- 
manded His death. He had then turned 
to Herod, but the wily Tetrarch refused 
to pass judgment. It remained for Pilate 
to act. 

The court was assembled in the Prse- 
torium. The governor called before him 
the Sanhedrin and the people. Thousands 
thronged the court-yard and gates. The 
expectant demands of the Sanhedrin, and 
the hostile murmur of the mob greeted 
Pilate as soon as he appeared. Neverthe- 
less he parleyed with them for time. The 
progress of the trial was rehearsed. Hop- 
ing to enlist popular sympathy he said : 
" Ye have brought this man unto me, as 
one that perverteth the people : and, be- 

1 Frederick W. Eobertson. 



52 Seven Steps to the Gross 

hold, I having examined Him before you, 
have found no fault in Him. . . . No, 
nor yet Herod : for I sent you to him ; 
and lo, nothing worthy of death is done 
unto Him." " Ye have a custom that I 
should release unto you one (prisoner) at 
the Passover : will ye therefore that I re- 
lease unto you the King of the Jews ? " 

It was an appeal to the sense of 
human feeling and justice, that Pilate 
hoped to find in the quivering mass of 
men before him. Perhaps he expected 
to find some Galileans, some followers of 
Jesus to speak up for Him, and turn the 
popular clamor in His favor. But the 
followers of the Lord were scattered, 
while the leaders of the Jews had all too 
well organized their minions, and had 
instructed them what to do. Thus the 
question of Pilate was no sooner uttered, 
than a mighty shout went up " Barabbas ! 
Barabbas ! Not this man, but Barab- 
bas ! " 

What a strange irony there was in 
this cry for Barabbas. They were taking 



Pilate 53 

their choice between a prophet whose 
mission was peace, and a mover of sedition 
whose mission was murder. They were 
choosing between Jesus Christ the Son of 
God, and Bar- Abbas, which means " Son 
of the Father." It was a strange name 
for a man to have who was regarded as a 
robber and a murderer. Here were the 
people of the prophets, rejecting a 
prophet. Here were a people who for 
hundreds of years had been living on the 
key-note of expectancy for the Messiah, 
and when He came, they demanded His 
life. As a matter of choice the priests 
and the people accepted Barabbas the 
robber, rather than Jesus the Saviour. 

" Barabbas ! Barabbas ! not this man, 
but Barabbas ! " Pilate quailed before that 
shout. The vindictive persistency of the 
Jews humiliated Pilate before the tri- 
bunal of his own soul. He felt that the 
supreme opportunity of his life to do a 
right act was slipping from him. He 
knew as he called for water " and washed 
his hands before the multitude," as a 



54 Seven Steps to the Cross 

token of his innocency that he had failed, 
miserably, and ignominiously failed. 
The mere washing of his hands was a 
childish protest against his own convic- 
tions. It was a subterfuge to which men 
sometimes resort, but which can only end 
in disaster to all concerned. Pilate soon 
passes from the scene of action. Passes 
on to the results of his weakness and 
Cowardice. He is remembered as the 
man who failed, as the man who in order 
to hold a temporal position sacrificed an 
eternal state, as the man who violating 
his conscience handed Jesus over to be 
crucified, as the man whose name — Pon- 
tius Pilate imprints a blot of shame on 
the records of time. 

While Pontius Pilate was violating his 
conscience in the Prsetorium, Judas Is- 
cariot was rushing across the city to the 
valley of Hinnom. Pilate had bartered 
his soul for the sordidness of earthly am- 
bitions. Judas had done likewise for 
thirty pieces of silver. In our first med- 
itation, when Judas : 



Pilate 55 

" With furtive mien and scowling eye " 

Avas leaving the table of the Last Supper 
our Lord had said to him, " What thou 
doest, do quickly/' Judas acted upon 
that advice. He struck immediately 
with the precision of a viper. He be- 
trayed the trysting-place of his Master — 
the Master who had done him nothing 
but good. Then he stood apart, as it 
were, to see the effect of his treachery. 
Poor Judas ! He overreached himself. 
Let us hope he hardly expected events 
would rush on to such an awful pass as 
the death of his Master. During the 
cold, gray morning of the trial, with the 
glamour of his ill-gotten gains at a 
minimum, and his hatred chilled by the 
recollection of what Jesus had been to 
him, Judas began to realize the depths of 
his crime. The enormity of his sin 
burned into his brain. The thirty pieces 
of silver, " like thirty serpents, coiled 
around his soul with the terrible hissing 
of death." x He rushed before the Sanhe- 

1 Edersheim. 



56 Seven Steps to the Cross 

drin, and cried, " I have betrayed the in- 
nocent." " What is that to us ? " said these 
putative children of Abraham, as they 
laughed him to scorn. " See thou to 
that." Judas did see to it. " What thou 
doest do quickly." He threw the money 
at the feet of the chief priest and elders, 
who bought with it the Potter's field. 
"What thou doest do quickly." The 
words of the Saviour haunted him. 
Everything had been done quickly : 

' ; God ! if Thou art love 
Why didst Thou leave me naked to the tempter? " 

Everything had passed along with the 
rapidity of a kaleidoscope. 

" Why didst Thou not command Thy swift lightning 
To strike me dead? " 1 

Judas had gone mad. From the San- 
hedrin he rushed across Jerusalem, out 
into the valley of Hinnom — the most for- 
bidding and revolting place in all Judea 
—out into Gehenna. There away from 

1 Longfellow's " Divine Comedy." 



Pilate 57 

haunts of men, away from the pity of 
his Saviour, he tied his girdle about his 
neck, fastened it to the limbs of a tree, 
and pitched himself over the precipice, 
" and falling headlong, he burst asunder 
in the midst, and all his bowels gushed 
out." Thus perished Judas Iscariot, while 
Simon Peter wept bitterly, and Pontius 
Pilate " willing to content the people 
. . . delivered Jesus to be crucified." 



THE SIXTH STEP 

@ut by tbe 3affa (Bate 



A HYMN 

There is a green hill far away, 

Without a city wall, 
Where the dear Lord was crucified 

Who died to save us all. 

We may not know, we cannot tell, 

What pains He had to bear, 
But we believe it was for us 

He hung and suffered there. 

He died that we might be forgiven, 

He died to make us good, 
That we might go at last to heaven, 

Saved by His precious blood. 

There was no other good enough 

To pay the price of sin, 
He only could unlock the gate 

Of heaven, and let us in. 

Oh, dearly, dearly has He loved ! 

And we must love Him too, 
And trust in His redeeming blood, 

And try His works to do. 

— Cecil F. Alexander, 

A PRAYER 

Almighty God, we beseech Thee graciously to behold this 
Thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented 
to be betrayed, and given up into the hands of wicked men, 
and to suffer death upon the cross, who now liveth and 
reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world 
without end. Amen. 



©ut l>£ tbe 3affa (Bate 

The judgment of Pilate satisfied the 
enemies of Christ. " Willing to content 
the people " he had " released Barabbas 
unto them . . . and delivered Jesus 
to be crucified." A centurion was placed 
in charge who scourged the Lord and 
allowed his men to indulge in the antics 
and brutality of the soldiers of Herod. 
Finally the centurion marshaled his men, 
some were to proceed so as to clear a 
way through the mob, and some were to 
follow as a means of protection. Then 
to each prisoner — the Lord and the two 
malefactors who were to be crucified with 
Him — were attached four soldiers as a 
special guard. It was still early in the 
forenoon when the soldiers stepped into 
place, and then amidst the excitement 
and howling of a mob of mercenaries, the 
march to Golgotha began. 

Death was to be by crucifixion, the 



62 Seven Steps to the Cross 

Roman mode of punishment, 1 borrowed 
from the Phenecians, who were respon- 
sible for most of the abominations of the 
ancient world. Sentence of death among 
the Jews was usually carried out by 
strangulation or stoning, occasionally by 
burning or beheading. But the Son of 
Man was to be crucified. He was dying 
for the world. He was dying to free 
not only the Jew from the demoralizing 
bondage of the letter, but the Gentile 
from the morning darkness of heathen- 
ism, and He must needs die by a world 
process. So bearing His cross after the 
usual custom, Jesus of Nazareth — the Sa- 
viour of men — is led forth to die. 

The procession seems to have passed 
along the narrow streets of Jerusalem, 
busy with the preparation of the Passover, 
and out through the Jaffa gate. As it 
moved along an official, according to the 
general custom, proclaimed the name and 
offense of the prisoners. The weakness 
of Jesus hindered the progress of the pro- 

1 Edersheim. 



Out by the Jaffa Gate 63 

cession. The struggle in Gethsemane, the 
betrayal of one disciple and the denial of 
another, the blow in the court of Caiaphas, 
the crown of thorns given in irony by 
Herod, the scourging of Pilate, the in- 
tense mental agony He was suffering, all 
seemed too much for the mortal frame of 
the Son of Man, and one hardly wonders 
that He fainted beneath the weight of His 
cross. 

Coming into the city at that moment, 
and probably moved to compassion and 
indignation, was a man named Simon, 
" him they compelled to bear His cross." 
A blessed burden it proved to Simon, for 
we read of him afterwards as being a 
Christian with his wife and two sons, 
Rufus and Alexander — the same Rufus 
and Alexander mentioned by S. Mark. 
What a joy it must have been in after 
years, when the Church was beginning to 
triumph, for Simon to remember that he 
alone of all the sons of men was chosen to 
assist the Lord bear His cross. 

By the assistance of Simon the proces- 



64 Seven Steps to the Gross 

sion moved more in accordance with the 
impatient desire of the soldiers. But 
what a contrast we have here in this aw- 
ful march to Calvary — this exit of death 
— to the entry of triumph of scarcely a 
week past. Then the Lord had entered 
Jerusalem, sitting on the colt of an ass, 
with the assembled multitudes crowding 
about Him, stripping the palm trees of 
their branches, and even throwing down 
their cloaks that He might have a royal 
bridle-path of entry. How the hills rang 
with the joyous cry of the Galileans. 
" Hosanna ! Blessed is He that cometh 
in the name of the Lord." Now all is 
changed. The Galileans, His Galileans 
who might have changed the decision of 
Pilate have been surprised. During the 
night the Lord had been arrested, and 
before the sun is well up in the heavens, 
He had been condemned, and is now on 
the way to execution. What a contrast, 
this the exit of death, to that, the entry of 
song and triumph. 

Another incident happened in this 



Out by the Jaffa Gate 65 

journey to Calvary which we may hardly 
pass without noticing. There appears to 
have been a great many women, who, 
moved by compassion, crowded about the 
Saviour. It is a significant fact that 
the women, protected probably by their 
womanhood, were especially in evidence 
during these last hours of the Lord upon 
earth. The men forsook Him and fled, 
but the women ever mindful of His 
sympathy and love — perhaps shown in 
the healing of some child, or some mem- 
ber of the family, or possibly because the 
spiritual intuition of woman is keener and 
finer than that of man, whatever it may 
be, the women, the daughters of Jerusalem 
— were close at hand in the darkest hour 
of His mortal life. They crowded about 
Him on the way to Calvary, suggesting 
no doubt to the soldiers that His burden 
be lightened, or hushing the imprecations 
of some vindictive follower of the San- 
hedrin. The Lord is evidently touched 
by their sympathy, and turning to them, 
He says, " Daughters of Jerusalem, weep 



66 Seven Steps to the Cross 

not for Me, but weep for yourselves and 
for your children. For, behold, the days 
are coming in the which they shall say, 
Blessed are the barren and the wombs 
that never bare. . . . Then shall they 
begin to say to the mountains, Fall on 
us ; and to the hills, Cover us. For if 
they do these things in a green tree, what 
shall be done in the dry ? " 

These words were the heartfelt thanks 
of Jegus Christ to the women of Jeru- 
salem, mingled with a terrible prophecy. 
" Weep not for Me, but weep for your- 
selves. " He had not forgotten the cry 
which arose when Pilate washing his 
hands, said, " See ye to it, that I am 
innocent of the blood of this just person. " 
He had not forgotten the awful response 
— the response of blood — " His blood be 
on us, and on our children. " That 
response struck the heart of God. Never 
was a prayer so terribly answered. Never 
did a people so fearfully overreach them- 
selves. God answered their prayer by 
encircling Jerusalem with Roman armies. 



Out by the Jaffa Gate 67 

He gave over these people to the gratifi- 
cation of their own selfishness and sin. 
He saw that Ephraim was joined to his 
idols, and He let him alone. 

It is a terrible thing when God leaves 
a nation alone. From that moment they 
cross the death line, and go down and 
down to disintegration and ruin. It 
was so with Israel. It happened under 
the prophets.. Jeremiah saw it, and 
prayed God that a remnant might be 
saved. It happened again shortly after 
the crucifixion of Christ, and the Jew 
has been a wanderer ever since. The 
Lord Jesus saw it all. His prophetic 
vision swept the future and brought tears 
to His eyes. His sorrow was indeed great, 
but the sorrow of Jerusalem should be 
greater. Weep not for Me, ye daughters of 
Jerusalem, weep for yourselves." " The 
greatest joy that can come to you is the 
joy of motherhood, but the time is coming 
when l the curse upon barrenness shall be 
coveted as a blessing.' " The Lord saw 
beyond His own sufferings, beyond Cal- 



68 Seven Steps to the Cross 

vary. He saw Titus surround Jerusalem 
with the legions of Rome, He saw the 
streets running with blood, He saw the 
hillsides covered with crosses upon which 
were hung the emaciated forms of His 
countrymen, He saw frenzied mothers 
eating their own children, He saw the 
Holy City, His city, the city that He 
had wept over go down to its ruin in a 
holocaust of fire and blood. Therefore 
He could turn to the sympathizing 
daughters of Jerusalem, and forgetting 
His own journey to death, say, " Weep 
not for Me, but weep for yourselves." 



THE SEVENTH STEP 

(Bolgotba 
Zbc place of a Skull 



A HYMN 

When I survey the wondrous cross, 
On which the Prince of Glory died. 

My richest gain I count but loss, 
And pour contempt on all my pride. 

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, 
Save in the cross of Christ my God : 

All the vain things that charm me most, 
I sacrifice them to Thy blood. 

See ! from His head, His hands, His feet, 
Sorrow and love flow mingled down : 

Did e'er such love and sorrow meet ? 
Or thorns compose a Saviour's crown ? 

Were the whole realm of nature mine, 
That were a tribute far too small ; 

Love so amazing, so divine, 
Demands my life, my soul, my all. 

— Eev. Isaac Watts. 

A PRAYER 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. 
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in 
heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us 
our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. 
And lead us not into temptation ; but deliver us from evil : 
for Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for- 
ever and ever. Amen. 



(Bolgotba — XTbe place of a Skull 

The mournful march of death, which 
we spoke of in our last meditation, 
finally arrived at Golgotha — Calvaria — 
the skull-shaped hill beyond the Jaffa 
Gate. The cross was then prepared for the 
suffering Saviour, and it was probably 
during this preparation that a l guild of 
the women of Jerusalem interposed, as 
was their usual custom, by offering Him 
wine, mingled with a stupefying drug. 
It was tasted and refused, because the 
Lord was treading the wine-press alone. 
He was to endure in His mortal body the 
full agony of the process of death. He 
who could lay down His life, or take it 
up, as He thought fit, chose to lay it 
down with the full meaning of all it 
meant imposed upon Him. Then the 
Lord was laid upon the cross, nailed to 
it by the hands and feet, and lifted up 

1 Edersheim. 



72 Seven Steps to the Cross 

between heaven and earth, a laughing 
stock for His enemies. It was probably l 
at this moment, when the cross with its 
suffering victim was planted in the 
ground, with a " rough shock of in- 
describable agony, 7 ' that He uttered what 
we call the first word : " Father, forgive 
them ; for they know not what they do." 
Under such circumstances it was hardly 
to be expected that Jesus would bless His 
persecutors. Human nature would ap- 
pear justified if it cursed. The death of 
Socrates w r as made as gentle as possible, 
but the death of Jesus was fraught with 
all the horrors mortal man could con- 
jecture. In the midst of it all we have a 
prayer for pardon. An absolution to a 
rebellious people. An absolution un- 
sought, unasked, and unconfessed. 

''Did e'er such love and sorrow meet, 
Or thorns compose so rich a crown/ J 

As the time goes on, w r e have the 
second word. In this the Lord is more 

1 Geikie. 



Golgotha 73 

.specific. He has interceded for the 
nation, He has absolved His enemies, 
now He is attracted by the dying thief — 
a companion in the bitterness of death. 
The Lord singles this man out as the 
representation of the worst state to which 
humanity can fall. Singles him out to 
be an example of the depth of the Sa- 
viour's love, and a Father's forgiveness. 
Christ asserts in death, as in life, the 
office and power of One who could for- 
give sins : 
i 

" There is a fountain filled with blood, 
Drawn from Immanuel's veins, 
And sinners plunged beneath that flood, 
Lose all their guilty stains. 

11 The dying thief rejoiced to see 
That fountain in his day ; 
And there may I, though vile as he, 
Wash all my sins away. ' ' 

Among the disciples of the Lord Jesus, 
John seemed to be the only one who ven- 
tured near the cross. The rest forsook 
Him and fled. After witnessing the first 
agony of his Master the " disciple whom 



74 Seven Steps to the Cross 

Jesus loved," seems to have gone into the 
city again, returning with the Blessed 
Virgin, that she might take a mournful 
farewell of her dying Son. So we find 
them standing by the cross. John, 1 the 
Virgin, her sister Mary, and Mary of 
Magdala. The Lord saw them. He saw 
her, the sweetest, the gentlest, and most 
sacred of women. His heart went out to 
her as He saw the deep furrows of suffer- 
ing upon her benign face. The Gospel 
reads : " When Jesus therefore saw His 
mother, and the disciple standing by, 
whom He loved, He saith unto His 
mother, woman, behold thy Son ! Then 
saith He to the disciple, Behold thy 
mother ! and from that hour that disciple 
took her unto his own home." The sight 
of His mother — and such a mother — 
standing in majestic sorrow at the 
foot of the cross moved the heart 
of Jesus to deep and filial compas- 
sion. And what thoughts must have 
flashed through her mother-heart, how 

1 Edersheim. 



Golgotha 75 



they must have increased the sorrow of 
the occasion. There was the Annuncia- 
tion by the angel, the birthday when 
shepherds worshiped, and kings brought 
presents. There was the dedication in 
the temple and the Nunc Dimittis of the 
aged Simeon. Then there were the heart 
ponderings over His developing youth, 
leading up to implicit faith in His mis- 
sion. Now the faith of years is being 
tested. How grandly the mother-love 
bears it. No wavering ! No doubt ! God 
knows ! and will vindicate His Son in 
His own good time. 

11 Who's the man could view unmoved 
Christ's sweet mother, whom He loved, 

In such dire extremity ? 
Who his pitying tears withhold 
Christ's sweet mother to behold 
Sharing in His agony ? " 

But we must hurry on, for it is past 
midday. The Saviour has hung on the 
cross more than three hours. The sun is 
darkened. Ordinarily it was the bright- 
est hour of the day, the hour of dazzling 



76 Seven Steps to the Cross 

brilliancy. But nature veiled her face 
in the land that dared to crucify the 
Saviour. It was a darkness that affected 
not only nature, it seemed to creep into 
everything and everybody. It was ghostly 
and ominous. It overshadowed the dying 
Saviour. It crept into His body, into 
His mind, into His spirit, it was unbear- 
able. The panic of despair seized men 
and things. The Son of God looks up, 
turns to the Father. Alas ! it is only to 
feel the hardest blow of all. The gates 
of heaven seemed closed against Him. 
His prayer reverberates to earth again. 
He is forsaken by men and angels and 
God. He saved others, Himself He can- 
not save. He is alone in death. He ex- 
periences all the woe, and sorrow, and 
bitterness and agony and despair of a soul 
standing on the confines of eternity with- 
out hope — a soul lost and wandering 
from the paradise of God. Can we won- 
der at the fourth word? Are we sur- 
prised that it seemed too much for our 
Blessed Lord ? " My God ! My God ! why 



Golgotha 77 

hast Thou forsaken Me?" " That My 
enemies should forsake Me I expected ; 
that My countrymen should lose heart 
in My cause was anticipated ; that My dis- 
ciples should desert Me was forewarned, 
but why hast Thou forsaken Me ? " " My 
God ! My God ! why hast Thou forsaken 
Me?" 

" Now the torrents of His passion 
Deep and fierce above Him roll ; 
And the rivers of transgression 
Overwhelm His human soul." 1 

After the fourth word, an expression 
of spiritual anguish, Jesus feels His bodily 
pain again. The pain-swollen, and fever- 
stricken body made its wants known, and 
the Lord cries out in the pangs of phys- 
ical need: "I thirst." If in the first 
word He manifested the characteristics 
of God, He now gives us in this fifth 
word a view of Himself as man — tempted 
in all points like as we are. He had re- 
fused the drug offered to Him as a victim 
of crucifixion, because it was an unnat- 

1 John Mason Neale. 

LOFC, 



78 Seven Steps to the Cross 

ural alleviation of pain. But when the 
natural desire of bodily thirst overcomes 
Him, He calls for help, and straightway 
one of the soldiers 1 offers the wine brought 
for their own refreshment. He accepts 
the proper and natural alleviation of 
pain, He asks assistance when it was 
needed, and thus manifests the qualities 
of perfect and rounded manhood. 

The time speeds on, and the Lord of 
Life is nearing the end. Again He cries, 
" It is finished." It is the sixth word. 
Taken as an unconnected sentence, it 
would appear as the last gasp of a de- 
feated man. A barely articulate expres- 
sion that all was over and hope passed. 
However, when we consider the circum- 
stances we realize that it is not the utter- 
ance of defeat, it is a pean of victory. 
His whole earthly life had been lived in 
the consciousness of a definite and self- 
imposed purpose. As a child He grew 
in favor with God and man. From the 
time of His baptism He had walked 

1 Edersheim, 



Golgotha 79 



among men as the manifestation of God. 
In and through it all there is a thread — 
a direction — to a definite goal. That goal 
is the cross. Hanging upon the cross He 
was fulfilling the words spoken by the 
prophet Isaiah : " He was despised and 
rejected of men ; a man of sorrows, and 
acquainted with grief, . . . smitten 
of God and afflicted. He was wounded 
for our transgressions, He was bruised for 
our iniquities, and the chastisement of 
our peace was upon Him." But in and 
through it all He was to " see the travail 
of His soul and be satisfied." Ah ! here 
is the meaning of the whole terrible 
thing. Herein lies the true content of 
the blessed sixth word " it is finished ! " 

11 The strife is o'er ; the battle done, 
The victory of life is won, 
The song of triumph has begun 
Alleluia ! " 

Finally there is the seventh and last 
word. We have followed the Master 
through the various steps of His humili- 
ation. We have considered briefly His 



80 Seven Steps to the Cross 

last words. Seven Steps and Seven 
Words. Each step takes Him deeper 
into the valley of the shadow of death. 
Each word brings Him nearer to the 
consummation of His mission. Tis a 
blessed word this last one. The con- 
sciousness of the Father's love returns. 
Returns to give Him strength to grapple 
with the last enemy of mankind. The 
Son of God is about to enter the valley 
of the shadow of death — not as one con- 
quered, but as a conqueror. Though the 
resurrection is yet to come, victory has 
been realized on the cross. There is no 
fearful looking ahead ; there is the calm 
assurance of one who feels about him the 
Everlasting Arms ; there is the seventh 
and almost whispered last word, breath- 
ing confidence and hope, " Father, into 
Thy hands I commend My spirit, and 
having said thus, He gave up the ghost." 
" And having said thus He gave up the 
ghost." But we know that this was not 
all. If it were, then this day would be 
the blackest and most woeful on the hu- 



Golgotha 81 



man calendar. Truly it stands for the 
crime of the ages, and we do right to hu- 
miliate ourselves in penitence and shame. 
Yet it is not the actual deed of suffering 
and woe that we should dwell upon this 
day, but upon that for which the cross 
was really set up. " As Moses lifted up 
the serpent in the wilderness, even so 
must the Son of Man be lifted up." Well 
may we call it Good Friday, for to us, 
who are followers of Christ, it is Emanci- 
pation Day. The day, the deed of which 
made possible our salvation. 

As in life the Lord shows us how to 
live, so in death He shows us how to die. 
In this last word we have the ring of im- 
mortality. In life or in death the Son of 
God gives no uncertain teaching on the 
question of the future. Christ offers no 
apologetics. He knows. In life He said, 
" Let not your heart be troubled. . . . 
In My Father's house are many man- 
sions." In death He could say with con- 
fidence, " Father, into Thy hands I com- 
mend My spirit." If we, here and now, 



82 Seven Steps to the Cross 

will kneel in loving submission, at the 
foot of the cross, the spirit of Jesus will 
steal into our hearts. His strength will 
be our strength, His love will be our love, 
and we may hear Him say as we face life, 
or face death : 

" Child of My grief and pain, 
Watched by My love, 
I came to call thee 
To realms above.' ' 

" Weep not for this My grief, 
Child of My love, 
Strive to be with Me 
In heaven above/ ' 



a prater 

" Lord God most holy, Lord most 
mighty, O holy and most merciful Sa- 
viour, deliver us not into the bitter pains 
of eternal death. 

" Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our 
hearts ; shut not Thy merciful ears to our 
prayer ; but spare us, Lord most holy, O 
God most mighty, O holy and merciful 
Saviour, Thou most worthy Judge eternal, 
suffer us not, at our last hour, for any 
pains of death, to fall from Thee." 



Hppenbtx 



Bppenfcir 

The following plan of service may be 
brought within three hours' time : 

Hymn : " Forty days and forty nights/' 
No. 79. 

Creed, versicles and collects. 

Scripture : S. John 14. 

First Step. 

Silence and prayers. 

Hymn : " Jesu, the very thought of 
Thee," No. 434. 

Scripture : S. John 18 : 1-12. 

Second Step. 

Silence and prayers. 

Hymn : " Jesu, Thou art standing," 
No. 357. 

Scripture : S. Luke 22 : 54-71. 

Third Step. 
Silence and prayers. 
Hymn : " Just as I am," No. 606. 
Scripture : S. Luke 23 : 1-11. 



88 Appendix 



Fourth Step. 

Silence and prayers. 

Hymn : " O sacred Head surrounded, " 
No. 102. 

Scripture: S. John 18:33-40 and 
19 : 1-16. 

Fifth Step. 

Silence and prayers. 

Hymn : " The story of the cross," No. 
106 (selected verses). 

Scripture : S. Luke 23 : 24-31. 

Sixth Step. 

Silence and prayers. 

Hymn : " When I survey the wondrous 
cross," No. 101. 

Scripture: S. Mark 15:22-38. 

Seventh Step. 

Silence and prayers. ( Tolling of bell.) 

Hymn : " Abide with Me," No. 12. 

Benediction. 

Nunc Dimittis. 

Time will permit of occasional solos 
during the silences and prayers, and if a 



Appendix 89 



sympathetic voice is used they are very 
effective. The author would suggest after 
the reading of the Second Step the hymn, 
11 In the hour of trial/' first and second 
verses. After the Sixth Step, " There is 
a green hill far away," by Gounod. 



JAN 25 190? 



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